Router to router for lan gaming?

[Nirkon]

Hi guys,

this summer im planning on throwing a lan party,
its gonna be about 12 people.

I have a wireless router here with 4 LAN ports,
and a friend of mine has just a wired router with 8 ports.

I was wondering if its possible to connect the wireless router to the wired router but have all the computers on the same network and each have their own IPs.

I've searched around on the net for this and some people explain how to do this but its not clear at all if each computer has its own IP (I am assuming of course that several people with the same IP won't be able to join a match)

(like what I mean is:
Computer 1: 192.168.2.1
Computer 2: 192.168.2.2
Computer 3: 192.168.2.3
etc..)

so, if we were to play CS 1.6 all 12 people would be able to join without a problem.

thanks in advance


edit:
Also, if this is not possible,
would there be any lag if 4 people connect as lan and the other 8 connect wirelessly?

 

[DelJo63]

use a switch instead of a second router, you can even have multiple switches.
the bigger issue will be the typically 10 connections allowed on our home routers.
the eight port router might allow more than 10 connections.

the wiring would be

     router#1 --- one system
        |
        + ---- switch#1 --- 4 systems
        |
        + ---- switch#2--- 4 systems
        |
        + ---- switch#3 --- 4 systems

All ip addresses would be assigned by router#1.

Wireless? Obvious bandwidth limitations compared to a wired connection,
AND you still have the 10 connection limit to deal with.

I assume your game will be hosted on one of your systems and NOT an Internet game.

 

[Nirkon]

yeah but i dont have a switch.. thats why im trying to do just what I posted.

but I mean, the 'worst' thing that could happen, is that people just play on wireless, i mean 8 people standing a meter away from a router that supports 250+ people sharing a 54MB connection while on the network playing CS1.6 and UT2004, IMO won't pose a problem.

 

[DelJo63]

if it connects at all

If the game is on the Internet, then all will play but the Wifi will LAG badly.

If the game is hosted on one of your systems, then you have a routing problem
and some will not connect to the game due to the different subnets.

Again, the easy way is with one or more switches -- go your way and some will get
nothing.

have a nice day.

 

[NetCablesPlus]

Wireless is a big mistake for gaming. Use cables for best performance. Check out the prices of the switches for the configuration that jobeard recommended. They are really cheap these days. And, you will still spend more money than that on chips and dirnks for the party, anyway. Why not spend a little on the network to maximize the chances for enjoyment by all for what everyone is getting together for, anyway?

 

[DelJo63]

one last choice for wired connections

8-port router(r1p8) --- (r2p1)4-port router --- three systems
       |
       +--- seven systems

take the eight port router and place it nearest the Internet modem, set it for DHCP active,
cable the last Lan port(p8) from it to the first lan port on the four port router,

leaving its WAN port empty. Configure the 4port router to disable DHCP.

the cabling and config of the four port has turned the device From a router INTO a switch
and you will have 10 user connectivity, all players being equal and no WiFi
induced lag.

The eight port router will control everything and must tolerate ten concurrent connections.

 

[Nirkon]

one last choice for wired connections

8-port router(r1p8) --- (r2p1)4-port router --- three systems
       |
       +--- seven systems

take the eight port router and place it nearest the Internet modem, set it for DHCP active,
cable the last Lan port(p8) from it to the first lan port on the four port router,

leaving its WAN port empty. Configure the 4port router to disable DHCP.

the cabling and config of the four port has turned the device From a router INTO a switch
and you will have 10 user connectivity, all players being equal and no WiFi
induced lag.

The eight port router will control everything and must tolerate ten concurrent connections.

Yeah thanks, that's a good solution!

Also a quick question then, if I use this way, will the last 2 peeps be able to connect through the wireless or not?
(and if not, then can the solution be used only that the 4 port wireless router is controlling the network?)

edit:
I checked prices here on switches btw, a 5 port one is 20 bucks, 8 port is 24 bucks, and then 16 ports is 52 bucks, quite expensive just for this one lan party XD

 

[DelJo63]

the number of ports does not really control the number of connections.
for a wired lan it does, but when there's wireless, you can get more connections (ie users)
than there are ports.

I suggested moving the 8-port to the top and letting it control DHCP as there's a better
chance that it will support more than the typical 10 connection limit <<== this is your issue.
find a box that will support 12-16 concurrent connections and make that the controller.

when wired as shown, the 4-port WiFi router (working as a switch) may still work
fine and allow multiple wifi connections -- to be determined by you.

 

[Nirkon]

I'll test the systems out before the actual lan party and see that it all works!

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[pyromaster114]

First, you don't have enough ports. You'd have to use one port on each to link them together... so you'd be 2 ports short of your goal of 12 for computers to connect to.

Here is an optimum setup (or as optimum as you need and easy to set up...):

Internet
||
Modem
||
Router (w/ 4 port switch)
|| <-- Straight through Ethernet cable from router to UPLINK
Switch
|| || || || || || || || || || || || || ||
Computers

The Ethernet cable between the router and the switch MUST be a straight through cable, not a crossover. (Most cables are straight through... so you probably won't have a problem with this.)
The cable must connect from one of the 4 ports of the switch on the back of the router (regular port, not uplink) to the UPLINK port on the standalone switch.

I recommend you go find a switch that has at least 14 ports on it, that way you can connect it to your router, and then connect all your computers to the switch. If done correctly, you will be able to access the internet (assuming your router is connected to a modem and all) and play LAN games.

If necessary, you could use a switch with only 12 ports, and you could use the extra ports on the back of the router to connect additional computers. It will work just fine from my experience.
If the switch has 13 ports, 12 regular and one UPLINK, this would be ideal for you as you would be able to have the uplink to the router's switch, and the 12 computers connected to it. (Although I haven't seen a 13 port switch recently... but i wouldn't put it past the manufacturers to make one...)

EDIT:
If you are using a wireless router, you can have around 50 computers connected wirelessly, and nothing will happen bad... like stated before, the number of physical ports doesn't limit the number of wireless clients. (The range of IPs in the subnet does... but that's a whole different story...)

 

[Nirkon]

I won't be two short because two will connection wirelessly,
and 2 people sharing the whole wireless bandwith won't pose a problem with lag.

I hope its possible anyway....
ill have to test it all out beforehand and i'll let you guys know

This will happen in about 4X days, when summer vacation starts.

 

[tipstir]

Hi guys,

this summer im planning on throwing a lan party,
its gonna be about 12 people.

I have a wireless router here with 4 LAN ports,
and a friend of mine has just a wired router with 8 ports.

I was wondering if its possible to connect the wireless router to the wired router but have all the computers on the same network and each have their own IPs.

I've searched around on the net for this and some people explain how to do this but its not clear at all if each computer has its own IP (I am assuming of course that several people with the same IP won't be able to join a match)

(like what I mean is:
Computer 1: 192.168.2.1
Computer 2: 192.168.2.2
Computer 3: 192.168.2.3
etc..)

so, if we were to play CS 1.6 all 12 people would be able to join without a problem.

thanks in advance


edit:
Also, if this is not possible,
would there be any lag if 4 people connect as lan and the other 8 connect wirelessly?

Don't worry it will work! No Lag. I did it here for the nephews and nieces. You'll need server wired and install all the software you want to do multi-player. I use Quake 3 Arena and Half-Life at first. They seem to like Half-Life virtual environment better. Anyway each PC going to need password from the server you'll set those up and what bots you want to appear in the game.

I did this wireless on 4 laptop and the rest wired. Everything works for hours, you get tired at then end, but that how LAN party games are. LOL

DLINK Xtreme N Wireless Router DIR-655 A3/1.11 don't have to use N G works!
8-port Netgear Switch 96KB packet buffer.

 

[tipstir]

I won't be two short because two will connection wirelessly,
and 2 people sharing the whole wireless bandwith won't pose a problem with lag.

I hope its possible anyway....
ill have to test it all out beforehand and i'll let you guys know

This will happen in about 4X days, when summer vacation starts.

Which router do you have? Which LAN games are you using?

Not going to be complex

Install the game
Setup a server
Configure the environment (world the bots etc.. mods)
Setup Server name, IP address etc.. for networking
Passwords

Setup PC
install the game
point it to the right server
user name
password
done

next PC to setup

After all are done, test the server to see if it working, then try one or two PCs on the network to see if they're able to connect to the server. I had 6 kids running around here playing these games. You need PC for each one and I had to play and be the admin at the same time... Adults should be okay..

 

[Nirkon]

I know how to set everything up, its the network I was asking about,
but I got an answer.

Anyway, if you want to know, most of the computers aren't very good gaming computers, so it'll be... Halo, CounterStrike 1.6, Maybe Half Life 2, Unreal 2004, Warcraft 3 possibly.

 

[tipstir]

I know how to set everything up, its the network I was asking about,
but I got an answer.

Anyway, if you want to know, most of the computers aren't very good gaming computers, so it'll be... Halo, CounterStrike 1.6, Maybe Half Life 2, Unreal 2004, Warcraft 3 possibly.

Networking what else did you need to know? Computers set the wired nic to 100, if you want to use some of my network tweaks on the wired desktops to help speed up the LAN or WAN just let me know. How fast are the PCs? Some of the newer games require more RAM, Video CPU power? Okay you have counter strike 1.6 that works on most systems. Halo, Half Life 2 needs more powerful CPU. But just have tot test and go.

Below are some of the tools I use for the LAN


Everything is in this package
http://files.filefront.com/Tipstir+nic+tweaksexe/;8766829;/fileinfo.html

Password to open file is: 2007

Max connections 55/55 should be set to 10/10 only set it to that for downloading. Network Onboard CPU should be enabled by default in all versions of Windows it disabled. That's where that program you see on the left upper corner does. That is not available anymore but it's included. All are free ware. There are some Reg tweaks for TCP, Lanmanworkstation, DNSCache.